Agents of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau entered the City Hall in Poznań in 2018 on the day of the announcement of President Jacek Jaśkowiak’s start in the local government elections. According to the CBA, the land on which the bus station was located could have been sold at a low price. After five years of investigation, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Zielona Góra decided that there were no violations in the sale of the plots and discontinued the proceedings in this case.
In April 2018, when Jacek Jaśkowiak participated in the Civic and Modern Platform convention, officers of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau entered the Poznań city hall. Agents secured documentation on the sale of real estate after a former bus station in the city center. According to CBA the property could be sold at a discounted price.
Case? – I don’t believe in coincidences. It has been said for a long time that the CBA is a political police – said the mayor of Poznań at the time.
Five years of investigation into Jacek Jaśkowiak and nothing
The case was investigated by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Zielona Góra. After five years, the proceedings were discontinued. – The District Prosecutor’s Office in Zielona Góra supervised the investigation regarding the failure to fulfill the obligations by persons supervising the sale of the right of perpetual usufruct of plots belonging to PKS SA, as well as actions to the detriment of this company and the certification of untruth in the documentation in the form of appraisal reports (an expert’s opinion on the value of real estate – add. ed.) – says attorney Ewa Antonowicz, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Zielona Góra.
The investigators secured the documents and appointed experts in this case. Everything took time and cost. The results of the analysis are that the CBA agents were wrong. – No irregularities were found during the sale of these plots, therefore the proceedings were discontinued due to the lack of signs of a prohibited act – says Antonowicz.
The CBA was looking for evidence of the mismanagement of the Mayor of Poznań. The prosecution closes the case12.05.TVN24
“Several years of investigation into a case that actually shouldn’t be there”
The decision of the prosecutor’s office is positively assessed by the Mayor of Poznań, Jacek Jaśkowiak. – It must be admitted that the prosecutor had to get acquainted with all the valuations and the whole process very thoroughly, he had to check a number of data, he also had to interview dozens of people, he had to enter into the knowledge … It was not an easy job. I understand that the prosecutor needed time for this, but this is completely unnecessary work – he says.
And he adds: – It’s several years of investigation into a case that actually shouldn’t be there. The involvement of state authorities in unnecessary work in a situation where this prosecutor could probably do things useful for the state at that time – he assesses.
The site of the former bus station was purchased by Skanska for PLN 63.5 million. The buildings of the so-called New Market.
The building from the outsideJerzy Miecznikowski / Cyril
According to the CBA, this valuation was too low. According to the agents, the sale of the land at this price was to cause damage to the property of PKS SA belonging to the City of Poznań, not less than PLN 9.3 million.
However, according to Gazeta Wyborcza, the investor had to spend an additional PLN 11 million on liquidation costs related to the removal of asbestos from the roof of the bus station and the reclamation of land contaminated with petroleum substances. Hence the difference between the appraiser’s valuation and the final price of the plot.
“We have power that uses the services to fight political opponents”
As Jaśkowiak emphasizes, the new buildings erected on the site of the former bus station bring PLN 3 million in income to the city. – Thanks to this investment, we have many serious investors who needed modern offices, we have a beautiful piece of architecture and the opportunity to go to Wolne Tory (a district of the city where the buildings were erected – editor’s note) – he says.
In his opinion, the CBA acted here on political orders. – We got used to the fact that we have power that uses the services not to protect the state, (…) but to fight political opponents – he says.
According to Jaśkowiak, more such cases should be expected in the near future. – We have an election year and this power, instead of focusing on what to do, in this crisis also related to inflation and with the increase in prices, could serve the society in the best possible way, it will actually deal with slandering politicians of other options, using state authorities for this purpose – says the Mayor of Poznań.
NIK took a closer look at the advertisements
Jaśkowiak calls a “repetition of entertainment” the notification submitted to the prosecutor’s office by the Supreme Audit Office about the suspicion of committing a crime consisting in the failure to fulfill the duties by the Municipal Conservator of Monuments and the Mayor of Poznań.
Read also: NIK accuses Poznań of bad advertising management. The case will go to the prosecutor’s office
The Poznań Regional Office of the Supreme Audit Office conducted an audit on the management of advertising in urban space in the capital of Wielkopolska in the years 2018-2022. The activities of the Poznań City Hall, the Municipal Roads Authority in Poznań (ZDM) and the company Międzynarodowe Targi Poznańskie (MTP) were checked. NIK reported that the activities of the Poznań authorities to organize public space from illegal advertising media were insufficient, and the concept implemented for this purpose turned out to be ineffective. “The city also failed to exercise due diligence in order to obtain the due funds related to advertising activities” – indicated in the statement of the Supreme Audit Office.
According to the controllers, the city chose the concept of managing advertisements, which generated losses, MTP could not liquidate illegal advertisements, and the actions to determine the legality of advertising media on municipal land lasted so long that one third of complaints about illegal advertisements were discontinued.
After the NIK’s announcement on this matter, the spokesperson for the Mayor of Poznań, Joanna Żabierek, emphasized that “the emerging information about irregularities revealed during the inspection of the NIK branch in Poznań in the field of advertising management in urban space is one-sided and incomplete”.
– We have a repeat of the entertainment – judges Jaśkowiak. – We have a situation in which we are putting order in the advertising market, in which 80 percent of advertisements are placed illegally. We do not have the tools to remove these advertisements, and these companies will stop the legalization procedures, and we have a situation again where politicians and officials of this power are actually starting to protect these illegal advertisements – believes Jaśkowiak.